Bait
by Shelbs13
Summary: Clary and the Lightwoods have been back in N.Y. for two years now and everything is perfect. Jocelyn married Luke, Alec is still with Magnus, and Jace is with Clary. She is now a shadowhunter. What happens when Jonathan finds them?
1. Chapter 1

Clary was a very happy girl. I mean how she could not be happy, she thought to herself as she walked the streets of her wonderful city. She had everything she could ever even think to wish for. Steady work as a shadowhunter and an incredible family. A wonderful and colorful group of friends. And lastly but most definitely not least, an excellent, steady, not to mention incredible and handsome boyfriend that she loved.

Now that Valentine had been gone for good, for the last two years, she had finally gotten things exactly into place. She liked it that way. Having things back to normal, Or at least as normal as they could get with the lightwoods around.

Since she was an official shadowhunter now she went with Jace, Isabelle and Alec on regular demon sweeps, and the occasional rogue downworlder problem. Though with the new even stronger alliance between the shadowhunters and downworlders there were less of those all over the world. Her friends and family were a perfect example of the strength of the new bond that everyone in the shadow world now had. Her shadowhunter mother was now married to a werewolf and her boyfriend's adoptive brother was dating the High Warlock of Brooklyn. She wondered why they couldn't have solved this problem years ago, she supposed she had nothing to complain about so long as it had all worked out. Also she liked the fact that she had something to do with the working out—

She was quickly ejected from her thoughts by a loud noise in one of the alley-ways to her right. She slipped down the dark path to see what had made the crashing noise. She pulled the dagger from the boots Isabelle had gotten her for her birthday and crept slowly down the deserted alley. She let her eyes scan the smelly area making sure her back was up against the dirty, tan brick building so she couldn't be snuck up on. Then she saw it_. False alarm_ she thought with a smile as she saw the cat. She took a step toward it and felt pain errupt on the back of her head before she passed out.

He sat up suddenly realizing he had fallen asleep and almost laughed because he was asleep in suck a weird position. His legs Indian style and his arms crossed, lying on the couch. A twinge of sadness hit him as he thought of Max and the young boy's strange sleeping habits. With a sigh he got off the couch.

As he walked down to the weapons room he smelled a horrible smell. Like decaying fish and a horrifying thought flew into his head faster than an Oni demon. _Isabelle is cooking._ He began trying to think of a good excuse for getting out of eating. He could pretend to be sick, but no… wouldn't work because he had been fine all day. Maybe he could take out Clary. The thought made him smile. He hadn't taken her anywhere in two weeks. They had been so busy of late that he hadn't had the time to spend with her alone. This seemed a good enough excuse not to mention it actually sounded wonderful and he knew it would make her happy.

It seemed to him that Clary had been a bit distant the past few days because she had, had another of those horrible dreams that she hadn't had since Valentines lifetime. Personally it made him very uneasy because Clary always seemed to know when the storm was coming. She had instincts and intuition up to wah-zoo. He had always suspected it had to do with her extra angel blood. As he entered the weapons room he had a slight feeling of discomfort. He disregarded it as fear of Isabelle's terrorizing cooking.

Alec hung up his cell with a smile. Magnus was throwing a party that night and every downworlder in the surrounding area was attending. This had put Magnus in a very good mood. Alec had learned, over the last two years, that this was a very good thing. Magnus was rarely in a bad mood these days but when he was it was not pleasant.

Just then Jace walked into the training room with a sarcastic remark about the blank happy look on Alec's face. This coincidently put a more normal scowl on it, and a grin on Jace's face. Then they began to spar with short knives to get out both of their general frustrations in life.

With a flourish Jace twisted away from Alec's hold on him and turned so that Alec was in front of him with his back to him. Then with his usual arrogance he put his knife to Alec's throat and said, "That is for global warming."

"What do I have to do with 'global warming'?" he asked confused.

"With the amount of hair gel your boyfriend uses, I'd say that it's _all_ your fault, for not stopping him."

"Yeah well…", there really wasn't any argument about that, Magnus used more hair gel in one day than the rest of the state of New York used in a month.

He was spared from responding when Isabelle's voice rang from the kitchen, "DINNER!"

Alec quickly looked to Jace and their eyes met. Jace grinned and said, "Good luck with forcing down that poison, I'm takin out Clary."

"Actually, Magnus has a party tonight so we should just eat there. Clary's and your presence are mandatory by the way. Also Izzy and Simon and that were-chick Maia."

Jace sighed and weighed his options, "How mandatory?"

Alec flinched, Magnus had made it very clear to his boyfriend that everyone needed to show up. "Very," he answered Jace's question in a 'no arguments' kind of voice.

Jace heaved another large sigh, reluctant to change his plans, and agreed like he was doing everyone a big favor, but Alec's mind was already preoccupied wondering about the night's festivities.

Hmmmm. The rolls were black. That couldn't be good, could it? From the smell of things, it wasn't. She sighed and pulled out her phone to order some Chinese food. She knew she would get made fun of for her burnt dinner but she really didn't mind today because she knew she would have lots of fun at the party tonight. That would most definitely distract her from her cooking issues. Magnus's parties were always over the top and that meant hot downworlders.

The thought of hot downworlders brought Simon to mind. She felt a twinge of unease about seeing him. Things hadn't exactly worked out between them, what with him being undead and all, but it made seeing him awkward. She barely ever had to see him unless he was with Clary.

She smiled. Clary and her were going shipping tomorrow and although the other girl wasn't very excited she was over the roof. She wanted to buy Clary a new dress because, while she didn't mind, Isabelle thought Clary's wardrobe was lacking.

"CLARY," where was she, "CLARY, WHERE ARE YOOOUUU????"

Jace walked in looking annoyed. Big surprise. "Why do you feel the need to yell?"

"Where? Is? Clary?"

"Why do you assume I know?"

"She was right." Clary had told her that when Jace was trying to annoy he would answer your questions with one of his own

"Who was right?"

"Clary, she told me something about you and it checks out," he looked suspicious but didn't comment, "Besides, I assume you know where she is because you spend practically every second of your life standing right next to her."

"First of all," he said looking irritated, "I don't spend _that _much time with her. Secondly, I don't know where she is, and third what is that smell?"

Isabelle shook her head and sighed, then froze. "She should be home right now shouldn't she? It's about nine. Maybe she's at the party already. She probably got a call from Magnus." This thought brightened her mood considerably and Jace looked a little more relaxed. Then she realized she wouldn't get to dress Clary and went to her room to put on her own dress and make-up.

_Yippee. Kidnapped again. And they even tied me up and blindfolded me._ It had been two, pleasant years since she had felt this vulnerable. The second she was rid of Valentine she had come home to be trained by the best. Jace, Isabelle and Alec. They had loved training her, each wanting to teach her, and sometimes fighting over whose turn it was to train with her. They even argued about what it was most important to teach her. Isabelle had wanted her to learn to use a whip while Alec thought a bow was of more use. Jace had told them they should show her how to use both and see what she was better at. She had a bit of a knack for the whip but was atrocious at the bow. Her true talent was all types of knives. Seraph blades, throwing knives, and daggers. This had gotten many smiles from Jace. He said she was almost as good as him. Clary had also quickly progressed at hand to hand combat and sparring with blades. She wasn't very strong, although she had gained a little muscle from training, and was small but she quickly learned how to use it to her advantage. She had even gotten the better of Jace once or twice, which had led to days of Alec mocking Jace.

But now she was blinded and had no weapons. She could feel that her weapons had been removed from her boots and the various places she kept them on her person. Her hands were tied behind her back and she was somewhere cold and most likely dark though it was hard to tell with the blindfold over her eyes. She could smell mold and hear a slight dripping off to one corner so she assumed she was in a basement somewhere.

She sighed, it was going o be a very long night. She wondered how long her captor was going to wait before revealing themselves. Not very, she hoped. They obviously wanted her alive or they would have killed her while she was incapacitated. This gave her time. She wondered what they wanted. Ransom, unlikely, she didn't know anyone with money. Information, possible, she thought about what she might know that would be of use to someone on the dark side and came up with only a few things. _Bait,_ the thought came in a flash and she figured this was another possibility. She was close to many people that had enemies and she knew that anyone at the institute would be willing to save her, not to mention her mother and Luke.

She realized she was probably going to miss Magnus's party and she sighed. He would probably be angry, but Isabelle would be furious that she had missed a chance to dress up her life sized Barbie. Thinking of Isabelle got her thinking about Jace.

All of a sudden she remembered her dream with the Angel with Jace's face and the Demon, her brother Jonathan/Sebastian. She had been on that horrible beach again. The shore of the third Mortal Instrument, the shore of Lake Lyn. She had been standing next to Jace with the angel wings, and he looked worried. She quickly realized that it was because of Jonathan. He was smiling in a sick sadistic way and walking toward them swiftly. This had frightened Clary and she was shocked to see that Jace did not. Although it was rare that anything frightened or even concerned Jace she would think that considering Jonathan was supposed to be dead he should look a little frightened. But like always if he was scared he didn't let it show.

"Jonathan," he said with mock surprise. Sounding sarcastic the way only he can.

"Jace," her brother said, injecting the beautiful name with deep, loathing hatred.

Then the angel Jace turned to her, a sword was suddenly sticking out of his chest. "He's a demon Clary, a horrible demon, be careful." He gasped the words, his voice shaking then he was gone.

She had awoken with a call of his name. Thankfully, when she woke she was laying on a couch with him next to her. They had been at Luke's place. She had been making him watch all of the Star Wars movies in a row and had fallen asleep during "Return of the Jedi". He had glanced at her quickly when she said his name. He was still watching the movies. Then he had looked a moment more at her and kissed her. A long, sweet kiss that put thoughts of the nightmare far from her mind. Then he had pulled back with a smile and said, "I feel bad for the Jedi." She had laughed and told him it wasn't even over yet.

When he asked her what was wrong later that night, when her mind was on that sword sticking out of him gruesomely, she had told him she was just tired though she could tell he didn't believe her. He had just kissed her forehead.

She now had a sick feeling in her stomach telling her that this had something to do with her dream. This made her worry like she hadn't before. Maybe Jace was in trouble. This was EXTREMELY likely, in all the time she had known him he was in danger more often than not. She groaned realizing that anyone who wanted to set a trap for Jace would only have to capture Clary and he would come running.

She was the worm, Jace was the fish, this basement was the hook, and she had a bad feeling about who the fisherman was.


	2. Chapter 2

"Hello Magnus," Alec kissed his boyfriend with a smile, the kind of smile that only Magnus could get out of him.

"Hello Darling," Magnus said as his eyes swept over his entering guests. "Where is she?"

"Who?"

"Who do you think?" he said with attitude, "The short redhead who has a fiery temper and a good haircut, otherwise known as Clary short for Clarissa Fray/ Fairchild/ Morgenstern."

"Oh. Well we thought she might already be here," he said. He wasn't very worried but Clary rarely was late for anything. Jace however was looking very worried.

"Where could she be? I mean it's not like she had anything to do today."

"Well," Magnus purred in a bored voice, "Not that this isn't interesting, but why don't you just call her and find out where she is so she doesn't miss the party?"

Jace flipped his phone out of his pocket and dialed the number quickly. Alec assumed this was because he had plenty of practice calling Clary's number. Alec smiled. Things were going good between those two. At an earlier time in his life he might have resented her but now he had Magnus. The High Warlock of Brooklyn and the king of all things glitter.

Jace obviously hadn't gotten an answer because he was having a short, one-sided conversation with the answering machine.

"What do we do now, oh great and mighty warlock? Can't you just magic her here and be done with it?"

Guests were beginning to arrive. All wanted to talk to Magnus Bane the Magnificent. Someone turned the music up just as those words left Jace's mouth and bodies were now dancing, shaking, and twirling in ways that you only see at Magnus's Parties.

"I can't just magic someone where ever I want, whenever I want. I need their permission and a sighned document or it's forbidden. If warlocks could magic people willy, nilly than the world would go to chaos. So many people traveling by magic would cause very bad things." Magnus was shouting at the end of his little speech to be heard over the music which was still getting louder. Magnus quickly gestured for them to follow him impatiently and led them to the corner of the room where he preceded to block the noise from the party from passing the invisible barrier he had placed between them and the dancing people.

"If I could magic people whenever I wanted we would have had an easier time capturing Valentine."

"Maybe she's at her mother's place," Simon's voice was suddenly at Alec's side. He sure was quite these days. Alec guessed that was a perk of being undead.

Alec flinched when Simon's voice had rang out right next to his ear. This was like a punch in the gut for Simon. It made him think about how much quieter he was now that he was a vampire, how much inhuman he was, how much he had changed. _At least I'm not dead,_ this thought rarely gave him comfort but when he thought of all the people he loved, it helped a little.

"Hello bloodsucker." Jace felt no need to be sensitive about Simon's "condition" as Clary called it. Since being called bloodsucker wasn't as bad as the Dracula jokes Jace used to tell whenever Simon walked into the room he just ignored it.

"Hello Elle Woods." Simon was making the most of the fact that Jace knew nothing about mundane culture by basing all his comebacks on "Legally Blonde." Jace obviously didn't get it because he just frowned slightly and asked me if I knew where Clary was.

"How could Clary go missing, she's with you shadowhunters all the time." Simon was admittedly starting to panic. The last time Clary had gone missing it had been Valentine's doing.

"She's probably just getting ready or something." Izzy said this in a calming voice trying to put everyone at ease. Since this was a good explanation it worked.

"Well she had better get here soon. I can't believe none of you realize what day it is."

"What do you mean?" Simon asked, "It's a Saturday."

"No,no,no," Magnus said exasperated, "this very day two years ago four shadowhunters, and a mundane walked into my party and annoyed me to no end. Two years ago I met you four and I met Clary more officially." They all began to grin. "It hurts me that you don't remember."

"Sorry Magnus, but I was a little busy with the whole being a rat thing."

"I was drunk," Izzy added putting the blame on Jace and Alec.

"I was saving the rat." Jace's explanation was so untrue. He didn't even want to change me back human.

"I was in shock. I mean I never thought I would get to meet the High Warlock of Brooklyn." Flattery went a long way with Magnus and Alec's excuse got a grin from the sparkly warlock.

This decided it. It was on Clary now, so they all drank, except for him that is the rat thing had been traumatic, and partied. Jace stayed more sober than the rest insisting whenever they offered him a drink that he was waiting for Clary.

She didn't show up and Simon was really starting to worry. Clary loved Magnus's parties. She said they reminded her of the dangers of alcohol, like being turned into a rodent.

"We should go see if she is at the Institute." Jace looked worried and agreed.


	3. Chapter 3

They hurried through the streets almost jogging. He knew something was wrong. There was no way that Clary would worry him like this, she would have answered his calls. She hadn't ignored his phone calls in a very long time. She knew that with shadowhunting came slight paranoia and always answered her phone on the second or third ring.

Simon looked almost as worried as he felt so he sped up. They were now sprinting towards the Institute. They quickly entered and began promptly shouting her name.

"CLARY, IF YOU'RE HERE GET DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW! PLEASE!!"

"She isn't here. Where else would she be?" They had called Jocelyn and Clary had not been there. They had also called Maia because she didn't show up for the party. She had the flu and had quickly gotten off the phone when she realized it was Jace. For some reason she still hated him.

"Well," Simon answered the rhetorical question, "maybe she's decided that she wants to be a famous singer and ran off to Broadway to catch her big break."

Cracking jokes was obviously Simon's way of dealing with the stress and anxiety so Jace let that one slide. Then a thought occurred to him. Maybe this had something to do with her dream. He ran to her room with Simon at his heels. Maybe he could track her using her things.

When he burst into her room he was shocked. It was empty. The only thing in the room was a cell phone in the middle of the floor. It was hers. Jace scooped it up quickly, reflexively he flipped it open. There was a video message flashing in the center of the small screen.

He pressed play, aware that Simon was looking at the phone as well. The video started out in darkness then a light came on. A girl with bright red hair was sitting in what looked like a basement. She was blindfolded but he would know that face anywhere. Clary's hands were tied up behind her and she was tied to the chair. She didn't look worried or even concerned. In fact she was laughing.

She obviously knew her captor was there because she had a smirk of bravery on her lips.

"Kudos for tying me up. It's very original. I can honestly say that I have never been tied to a chair before. The blindfold adds a nice touch, too." Smarting off to the people who have you tied to a chair did not seem like a good idea to Jace. Of course he knew that if he was in her position he would be doing it too. This didn't make him feel any better.

The second he had seen her tied up he had felt his heart break. It was like it had frozen inside him and a piece had chipped off. He had suddenly been filled with rage. An insane rage to kill whoever had tied her up flooded through him. He knew he would kill them and enjoy it.

The video continued when someone walked up to her and removed the blindfold. Then before she could say anything about what had caused the look of horror to flash in her eyes when she saw her kidnapper there was a knife to her throat.

Simon quickly stole the phone from Jace's constricting hand before he could crush it and held it between them. The knife was still at Clary's throat and Jace could barely see strait.

Clary didn't let the smirk fall from her lips though you could see the fear in her eyes. She looked at the face of her captor then she looked to the camera that was taping this and said, "I didn't know you aspired to be an actor Jonathan. I'm quite surprised actually; I always thought you were more of a fast-food business type. Thanks for the offer but I'd prefer not to be in your horror movie."

Jonathan. It was Jonathan. But he was dead. Jonathan was dead and he himself had killed him. He had driven the blade into his back and seen the light leave his eyes. He was supposed to be gone taken care of. Even though Jace had his suspicions when they hadn't found the body, he had felt better when they hadn't heard from him the first year after Valentine's demise. Why he had waited so long to resurface Jace couldn't fathom. The second he thought this, a million possibilities ran through his head.

The rage inside his body doubled and he could feel his fingers growing numb from how tightly he was holding them into fists.

The blade was still at Clary's neck and he was pressing hard enough that a slight trail of blood was trickling down her pale throat. She had been trained to ignore pain like this so she just looked at the camera again and said in a impatient voice, "Are you going to tell me what the cameras about or what?"

"I'm going to be sending this to your dear, beloved family. I'm sure once they know where you are they will come find us."

"Well you should have hired someone to redo this basement I mean, I could handle the water but the smell is really disgusting." She was very obviously hinting as to her location.

"Oh Clary. There's no need to try to tell them where we are. They'll find out eventually. They just have to follow the clues. I know they aren't exactly clever but the clues will bring out their inner child. Kind of like a big game. Doesn't that sound fun Clarissa."

"Why no actually, it does not sound fun, I have always had a strong aversion to children's games. I was emotionally scared when I walked in on a game of naked twister being played by Simon's Aunt Mathilda and his Uncle Waldo."

"Well don't worry. You don't really have to play you just have to stay here like a good little girl and endure some pain."

"How about I explain the rules," he offered, "Well you see every five hours I'm going to inflict a new level of pain on you. The longer it takes them to find us the more painful it's going to get. Let's start."


	4. Chapter 4

It was Jonathan. How in the world could it be Jonathan? She wished she was more surprised, but she could see someone as evil as Jonathan weaseling his way out of death. He was going to hurt her to get back at Jace. In her mind hurting Jace made him the most evil person in the world. Jonathan was tied with Valentine on her list of people who deserved hell.

The knife at her throat was beginning to pierce the skin but there was no way that she was going to give him satisfaction for causing her pain. She kept a smirk on her face, but she knew he could read the fear in her eyes and she hated it. She could see his joy and decided she wouldn't be afraid. She would suck it up; she was a shadowhunter after all. She concentrated on Jace's face pretending it was before her eyes and plastered an expressionless mask on her freckled face. She didn't want Jace to see this but she knew he would.

Jonathan took the knife from her throat and pressed it to her arm. Then he began making deep cuts, starting at the wrist and working his way up to the shoulder. She felt her eyes squint reflexively but she wouldn't let herself cry. The pain was shooting through her nerves. She could feel her arm trembling and she knew Jonathan enjoyed this.

"Come on Clarissa, go ahead, and scream." He said this then waited to see if I would comply. When she did not he took the sharp blade against the skin at her throat and said, "that's all right no one would hear you anyway. You'll be screaming enough in five hours to make up for this stubborn silence."

He smiled and turned to the camera. He touched it, probably turning it off. His eyes shot fear into her. They didn't look angry. She would have preferred that to the glint of uncaring disdain. She then realized that while Valentine had been evil he had thought what he was doing was right. Jonathan knew he was doing the most evil thing possible, he just didn't care. She knew that he wouldn't think twice about killing her if she did anything to make him angry enough. Though she doubted there was much she could do or say that would make someone so utterly uncaring and cold mad.

She closed her eyes. _Jace, Jace, Jace, Jace_, she let his name run through her mind then suddenly she remembered something he had told her. If you repeated something over and over again fast enough then it would lose all meaning. She really wished the pain would lose all meaning so she thought it again and again. _Pain, pain, pain_, she sighed. It wasn't working but it had kind of distracted her to think about Jace.

She left her eyes closed and just kept thinking about him. She knew that her brother had left. She drifted into a light uncomfortable sleep filled with long lost nightmares and speculations of the horrors to come.

He stood there. The revulsion, rage and terror were all clear on his face. Jace knew his emotions must be written across his face plainly but he didn't have the strength to make his face do what he wanted. This just couldn't be happening. Clary was supposed to be safe now. She was supposed to be safe forever, and now that demon was hurting her. This rage was the strongest he had ever felt. He could remember clearly each stroke of that knife up her beautiful, pale skin.

He knew in that second that he had to act and he had to do it now. He ran from the room like it was on fire and kept going. He figured out where he was headed once he was already there. Magnus. Magnus would surely know how to find her and how to kill her brother. This would be simple. He distracted himself from the overwhelming fury and pain by planning.

He would rip off Jonathan's hand first. His one remaining, horrible hand that caused so much pain. As thoughts of the last time he had seen the boy ran through his head he decided that next he would cut out his tongue. That would hurt and he wanted Jonathan to suffer through a thousand times more pain than he had just caused Clary.

This thought stopped his dark brooding quickly. Jonathan had said that every five hours would mean more torture for Clary. He knew Simon was right behind him but he didn't have the energy to acknowledge him. He didn't think he had the energy to do anything but save his Clary. His love for her was the one thing that had been constant and unchangeable in his life. Jonathan wanted to take that away from him. What was even worse though was what he would be taking away from her. Clary was untouched and innocent and beautiful. Anything as wonderful as her deserved to be around for a long time. There were so many things that Jace still wanted to show her, so many things that she still hadn't done. She deserved to do all of them. She had the right to see everything and have the fullest most wonderful life.

He was now at Magnus's and from the looks of things the party was over. Downworlders were piling out of the building cursing and shouting in their drunken stupors. Jace was having a hard time getting past them. He was not in the mood to wait. Every minute could be life or death for the love of his life. He pulled out a blade.

"**Anyone still in my way in three seconds will find themselves without a head."**

Three seconds later he ran through the wide pathway that the Downworlders had hastily cleared from. He ran up to Magnus's apartment and burst through yelling his name.

He was greeted by an irritated Magnus and his siblings. "What is it that you want now?" he hissed.

"Clary, she's been taken. It was Jonathan and I need you to track one of them."


	5. Chapter 5

Jace closed his eyes as the image of Clary with that demon slammed into his thoughts fiercely.

He kept his eyes closed realizing he needed to think through things calmly while Magnus tried to track Clary although Jace had told him he doubted it would work.

Jace was going to have to act fast. He had only four hours and thirty minutes left. Clary obviously was going to be where Jonathan was, so his best bet at finding Clary was finding Jonathan. Jace was sure he had put an untraceable rune on her by now. Then again, he probably wanted Jace to find him. Why would he make it harder than necessary? He wanted Jace to find him so that he could finish the task he hadn't accomplished two years ago. So he could claim that not one of his enemies had escaped him. If this was the case, as Jace suspected, then he would want to kill Isabelle as well and there wasn't a doubt in Jace's mind that Jonathan planned to kill Clary.

"You were wrong shadowhunter. He has placed a rune on her to make her impossible to track. Most likely the only power able to find her is her runes and since she is un-track-able that obviously won't work." Magnus said this with sadness. He had grown to like Clary over the years, meeting her anew every two for almost her whole life. He had watched her sprout from a bud to a flower. He had seen her four years old running around his apartment trying to find the cat he told her he had. He had seen her again when she was twelve. She had been utterly honest with him about her opinion of his clothes saying, "You look like you were just put through Hello Kitty hell and then dunked in a boiling vat of sparkles." He thought of the last year she had come before finding out about this world. She had been fourteen. _She's really growing up_. That's what her mother had said. He had smiled, then frowned and said, although he had never expressed his opinion on the subject before, "You should tell her. Because, you're right, she's really growing up."

He was broken out of his reverie when Jace hissed a harsh word at him. "Why?"

"Most likely it's because he wants the excuse to torture her some more." Jace had shown them the video.

"Why her? Why didn't he just take me?"

"He took her because she has a list of people a mile long all willing to die for her life. All willing to die to protect her, that is why he took her. He took her because he knows that important people will come after her and he wants to kill them. He took her because she is a symbol of the fragile alliance that has so recently been forged between Nephilim and Downworlders."

"Then we'll just have to get to her quickly and take her before he knows what happened and we're gonna need a plan and we're gonna need one fast because we only have four hours and fifteen minutes before he hurts her again."

Alec had obviously called Clary's parents because just then Jocelyn and Luke burst into the room yelling something that sounded a bit like, " THHHHHEEEEEE ?

Izzy and Alec explained to the insane adults about how she had been taken and why. They told them only that there was a video and didn't offer to share it with them. They didn't ask. Jace suspected this was because they were so distraught. Luke was not crying but water was coming out of Jocelyn's eyes like she had just swallowed Niagra Falls, like she was crying every drop from the great lakes or the Loire River. She was obviously messed up. Jace thought that she would hate him for sure from now on. She had never liked him anyway and it normally didn't bother him because Clary assured him that it was untrue and Jocelyn just acted cold toward him because she was the mother and Jace was the boyfriend. He knew it wasn't true but he let Clary tell him that if it made her happy. He knew that she liked to believe that her mother liked him. He knew though that she would always see him as someone raised by Valentine instead of someone who loved her daughter.

Then it hit him. Jonathan had been raised by Valentine. He had known Valentine far longer than Jace had, he had probably learned a million ways to slip out of the grasp of death from Valentine. That's how he survived_. Valentine's dead and still making my life hell._ He had thought that she would be safe from him once he had died but apparently they would never be able to get away from the evil he could cause. What was it about him that made his life hell? This reminded him of something Clary had said once, that he didn't make his life like hell, his life put him through hell and that was why he was such a fighter.

He took a deep breath. What would he ever do without her? She was like the sunrise of his life, the light after all the darkness. She possessed the optimism he himself lacked. She was his other half as cheesy as it sounded it was still true. Just the thought of his life without her was heartbreakingly dark and cold and broken. She was all he really had to live for besides his family. She knew how to make him want life.

This decided it. He was going to go after her alone. That's what she would want. She wouldn't want anyone to get hurt and Jace was sure he could kill Jonathan this time. He would drive his blade into his heart a million times to ensure Clary's safety and then he would bring her home and heal her wounds and tell her that she had been brave. Then they would truly be safe. Safe from the evil that Valentine had decided to unleash on the world. They would go back to dealing with regular danger's and normal demons. At least demons less dangerous than Jonathan.

He even knew how he was going to find them. He set off for the institute slipping past without the others noticing.

Sorry this chapter was a bit slow but I'm having writers block. Not to mention enough homework to scare away Jonathan for good.


	6. Chapter 6

Clary woke to the sound of a blade being sharpened. She knew the sound well. Jace sharpened his blades every day. He took a lot of pride in his weapons and wanted them to be ready always. He loved to sharpen them and clean them to perfection. The thought of Jace and his nervous habit of twirling his blades between is fingers warmed her heart slightly. She thought back to when she had first woken in the institute and then left to look through her mother's things. That was when she had slapped him. This thought made her laugh out loud. Although she knew this was a bad idea she couldn't help it. She remembered Jace's shocked expression as being amusing. She grimaced and got what she had known was coming.

A sharp pain erupted on her lip and she hissed, "I thought you were going to hurt me in four hours."

He just laughed at her, looking like a boy at Christmas, eager to open his presents. Or torture his sister in this case. "Trust me, in four hours you will be wishing that this was all I had done to you and I doubt you will be in the mood to laugh." Jonathan laughed again and walked out of the room, leaving her alone once again with only her own thoughts to keep her company. And, quite unfortunately, most of her thoughts didn't make good company.

Jace burst into his room and began to frantically search for the tiny blood soaked fiber he had stolen from Clary's coat in Idris. He had always kept it. Thinking it might someday be of some use. He remembered tracking the boy with it when he had thought that he was just Sebastian Verlac. Just, one of Valentine's pathetic followers. Even though he had known not to underestimate him he had pitied him ever so slightly when he had found out what he was. Just another experiment, a horrible experiment.

He found the thread in the bottom dresser drawer. Relief flooded through him as he grabbed the baggy he had been keeping it in. He had been worried that sometime in the last two years Izzy might have once again tried to clean out his old things. Thank the Angel she hadn't. Jace knew this would work. He also realized that Jonathan probably knew it too, but he wouldn't think about that. Whether this was a trap or not he had to save Clary and if it had to be done by walking into a trap then, so be it. Jace had gotten out of plenty of "situations", as Clary called them, in his life and he was pretty good at it.

Jace drew the tracking rune Magnus had shown him so long ago on the back of his right hand and closed his eyes. As he knew would happen he didn't see the inside of his eyelids as usual, but a building on a street not that far from Magnus's place.

BZZZZZZ!!!

The annoying buzzing issuing from his pocket interrupted the vision and he answered his phone, more out of habit than the real desire to speak to anyone.

"Hello, Jace."

He was shocked; he had been expecting the worried voices of Isabelle or Alec, not this cold, sharp voice that brought back thoughts of his dead, fake father. This voice that sounded so much like Valentine, that it brought back unwelcome memories of death and pain that most people couldn't imagine. He didn't want to hear this voice but was glad he was because no matter how much he hated its owner he knew that this voice could tell him how Clary was, and where she was for that matter.

"Where are you keeping her?" He asked with venom in his voice.

"Where's the fun in that? Don't you like games Jace? I didn't have much time for them in childhood and I assumed it was the same for you, so I thought it would be fun to play together."

"It's not that I don't like games, it's just that I prefer monopoly." Jace knew that the best way to get Jonathan to slip up and give Jace a hint of his plans was to keep him talking. He could find Clary with the thread but he didn't know in what condition he would find her or what would be guarding her. He doubted this would turn out pretty.

"Funny, you think you can trick me don't you. I assume you now have a way of tracking me. Well good luck."

"I don't need luck."

"Whatever you think is best. Oh, and Jace, just remember that you only have three and a half more hours before Clary is put through hell. Physically and emotionally. Valentine taught me how to break someone's spirit and after the amount of pain I put her through I doubt she will even want to live."

"I think you underestimate me." Jace spit into the phone just before the line went dead with an unending monotone.

"Where IS HE?" Isabelle did not enjoy being left behind and she knew that Jace had left them all behind purposefully.

"He is looking for Clary, as you well know." Alec was trying to be reasonable but Isabelle knew he was just as worried as she was. He was trying, unsuccessfully, to hide his fear behind his irritated tone.

"Why didn't he bring us?" She thought that they had the best chance of working this out if they were doing it together.

"Because he isn't thinking clearly at the moment and I'm sure we aren't doing much better so stop yelling at me. We need to focus. How could Jace have found Jonathan?"

Isabelle thought with all her might and knew she was just overlooking something obvious. Then it hit her.

"The same way he tracked him before with Jonathan's own blood." Then she realized something else obvious. "We can find him the same way I did last time. With the toy shadowhunter."

Alec grinned, "You are a genius."

They wouldn't even have to go home. Isabelle had kept the miniature shadowhunter with her everywhere she went since Max's death. Gripping it and thinking of Max whenever she was frightened or sad. She pulled it out of her pocket and quickly traced a tracking rune on her hand. Her eyes opened moments later and in surprise she stated --

"He's right outside."


	7. Chapter 7

"Why is he outside?" Alec asked puzzled.

"Well how would you expect me to know? I have been right here with you; do you think that knowledge just magically appears in my brain?" Isabelle was obviously confident that they would get Clary back because she was no longer looking heartbroken. Just very, very angry.

"If we don't hurry up we won't catch Jace," Alec pointed out quickly to avoid an argument. "I'm sure he was on the move, probably just passing by here."

They ran down to the street and saw Jace walking at a fast pace up the street. He had a stony expression, and only those who really knew him could see the pain and worry in his features. When he saw them waiting for him he briskly crossed the street. He thought he could handle this alone Alec and Isabelle realized at the same time.

"We have known Clary just as long as you have! We all love her now and if anything happened to her we would all be upset. You cannot expect us to just sit around while you go off and try to save her!" Isabelle shouted this indignantly at him.

"I'm not going to be trying to save her, I'm going to be succeeding and if you must come then don't because I can do this by myself!"

"Are you sure. Are you sure that Clary won't die because you were to stubborn to accept help?!?!" Isabelle felt slightly guilty for saying this when Jace's expression became clearer. He looked like he had been stabbed in the pancreas and for good measure punched in the stomach.

"I will save her. She will be fine." He said this with such conviction that she realized he honestly believed he could do this by himself. She also realized that he was scared out of his mind for Clary. Sometimes, even after all the time that had passed, it was still surprising to see Jace frightened for someone. He had never really cared for many people before he met her.

"Alec, Isabelle, come here please." Magnus obviously had a plan because he didn't seem to care that Jace had disappeared around the block while he was speaking. "We'll catch up with him later," he intoned, reading Alec and Izzy's minds.

Magnus had a serious expression but the mischievous twinkle in his eyes was evident.

"I have an idea."

Jace wasn't surprised that they wanted to come but he couldn't let them. Jonathan had left another message on the phone stating that if he didn't come alone he would kill Clary immediately and whoever had come with him.

Three hours. He had always considered it a fair amount of time before. Not too long but not too short either. Now it seemed like mere seconds, like a measly amount of time. The thought of what would happen in three hours (Or not happen hopefully) put a rage in him that clouded his judgment. It was like being under the influence. It made him want to kill Jonathan slowly and painfully. To make him feel helpless, as helpless as Max was when Jonathan killed him, as helpless as Clary was when he was dragging his knife along her pale arm. In some part of his mind he knew his thoughts sounded cruel but he knew that, while he might wear a human face, Jonathan was as much of a demon, if not more, as the ones Jace usually dispatched of.

He took a deep breath, focusing his mind on battle tactics. He knew that dwelling on Jonathan was a bad idea and would only distract him from rescuing Clary. His Clary. The only girl in the world, at least the only one he saw. His mind began to wander. He thought of when he had finally been allowed to have her. 753. It had been seven hundred and fifty three days. That is how long it had been since they had returned from Idris to the Institute. Jace had taken her on their first official date the day they got back; they had gone to Takis something they had done before and a thousand times since, but it had been perfect. She had stolen one of his fries and they had talked about the most trivial things along with some of the most important. They had laughed and even argued but it was still one of his best days ever.

He had found his way to the building without realizing it. He had almost walked past it trapped in his happy memories as he was. The sight of the building brought back his anger and passionate loathing. He knew that the person so intent on taking away his life was waiting inside. But he also knew that she was waiting for him. She was waiting for him and counting on him and he knew he needed to get in there as fast as possible.


	8. Chapter 8

_Pringles, they are wonderful chips. All stacked up in rows. In the supermarket they are all side by side. Hundreds of tubes of delicious crunchy salty chips sitting around looking delicious. They are so beautiful …mmmmn. _Clary couldn't help but think about food. She was starving. She hadn't eaten almost anything for twelve hours. On retrospect skipping breakfast this morning and having a granola bar for lunch had been a bad idea, but she had thought that she would eat a lot at the party tonight. Thinking about the party made her smile Magnus had most likely outdone his last party by a mile and his last part had been" insanely fabulous" according to himself. Clary herself had admitted that it had been the best party she had ever been to.

She shook herself out of the trivial thoughts and focused on finding a way out. First things first, she needed to get the handcuffs off her wrist and get hold of her steel. It was with the rest of her weapons, sitting by the stairs that would lead her out of this hell hole. She assumed that he had put them where she could see them to taunt her. Her escape, just out of her reach.

The more she thought the clearer her plan became. She just had to find something to knock her steel out of her bag at the right angle so that it would role towards her. Then she could tip her chair over and grab it. She knew that this plan had a lot of problems. Like how the only limbs she could use were her legs because Jonathan had her hands cuffed behind her back, so tight that her wrists had thin lines of blood running down them. Not that you could distinguish that blood from the blood that had dripped down her arms as Jonathan cut them with his knife.

Her legs. She took a deep breath and looked down at the short freckled legs that were at least long enough to touch the floor. Jace had laughed when she had been so excited about growing two inches taller. Her eyes caught on her boots. Her lovely boots that had been a wonderful gift were her way out, she thought with satisfaction.

She just had to kick her right shoe loose on her foot and kick it over to her things so that she could knock it over and her steel might just roll right over to her. Maybe. Okay it wasn't the best plan but it was her only choice, she thought this despairingly.

She began shaking her foot roughly. Shaking just hard enough to loosen the shoe and not hard enough for it to go shooting across the room. When it was hanging loosely on her foot she smiled. This might actually work. She paused, listening to make sure that Jonathan was still preoccupied with whatever was going on upstairs. She aimed her foot, and drew it back preparing to swing it forward. She then shot her leg out with enough force for it to go shooting across the room. Like she had hoped it hit her bag, unfortunately when her bag fell over sideways her steel flew out and rolled to the other side of the room.

"Grrrr," she sighed in frustration. Jonathan would come down and realize what she had been trying to do and then it would be over. He would probably laugh at the feeble attempt at escape and tell her that soon she would be dead, or in unimaginable pain. Freedom, just out of her reach, just a room's length away, this sucks.

I took one look at the door and realized that this was the only way in. He knew that he had to enter this way because there were no windows and no back way. It took him one circle around the building to realize that his only choice was the obvious way in. Jonathan had no doubt about it planned it this way. He glanced at his watch and was shocked. One hour left. How in the hell had he squandered all his time, it seemed that a few minutes ago he had had three whole hours--

He took a deep breath to calm his panicking. He needed to be calm and think. If he couldn't think then he couldn't save her and he needed to save her. He needed her. He took another breath and started to prepare himself physically and mentally to walk into hell. He made sure his gear was all sorted out and checked that he had every single weapon that he could ever, possibly, in any circumstance need.

One more breath and he rushed in, he knew that he would probably end up dead but so long as he saved her it would all be worth it. Inside the building was about as plain as it appeared. All except for the demons. There were at least a dozen, and on a good night Jace could have taken out a dozen with so little as a scratch to himself, but these were not ordinary demons one might find roaming the streets, such as Raums or Raveners. These were all more advanced demons, some that Jace had only ever read about and never faced. He supposed he had Valentine to thank for the fact that he did know so much about these demons even though he hadn't seen them. It had been him who had made Jace read those terrible books everyday of his youth. He had read how to destroy them and their weak points and etc. Of course it was also Valentines fault that he was in this mess in the first place.

He was quickly rammed from this train of thought by an approaching demon. It was huge but he didn't take time to worry about its size and attacked it quickly killing it with a throwing knife to the jugular, the only part of it not covered in protective scales. The next demon was on him before the other one had fully disappeared, slamming into his back but quickly fallowing the other demon to a hellish dimension when Jace slammed a dagger into its unprotected underbelly. Jace realize that this would be harder than it had looked at first, and it had looked suicidal at first. He glanced at his arm and gasped to see that it was covered in his own blood. He had hurt himself and not even realized it in the heat of his fight with the first two demons.

Another demon seeing his distraction snaked out a spiked tail, Jace saw it coming and moved quickly dodging the oncoming danger but then he felt a sharp pain in the back of his head and before he could turn to see what had caused it he was unconscious.


	9. Chapter 9

Jace woke to what, he at first thought, to be a cold rain, and quickly realized that it was someone dumping a bucket of freezing cold water over his head.

"You are no fun when you're unconscious," Jonathan's voice said loudly. "Just wait right here and trust me, I'll be back soon." The way he said this, his voice coated in anticipation, warned Jace that when he came back he would be hurting someone, most likely Jace. He couldn't think of anything else that Jonathan would be so excited about.

Jace's whole body was trembling. He was drenched and it was freezing. He wished he could stop it; it was a sign of weakness to shake this way. Jonathan paused at the doorway, and turned to look at his could 'a-been brother and let out an amused chuckle. Then turned and shut the door. From what Jace had seen, behind that door was his only escape.

Now that Jonathan was gone Jace let his emotions go. He could feel his body warming from the heat of his rage. This demon had hurt his Clary, had cut into her pale, lightly scarred, perfect skin and he would pay. He would feel pain that he had never imagined. Jace would make him regret that he had ever been born and every single evil act that he had committed.

Once his anger had dissipated slightly he began to study the room he was in more closely. He had been paying no attention to anything before, and saw that he was not alone as he had expected.

When his eyes fell on hers the whole world went quiet. He could hear nothing. Not the sounds of taxis and cars honking at each other impatient to be home, or the light voices of Jonathan and the demons upstairs could penetrate the calm. All he saw was her and all he heard was her light breathing, in tune with his. A profound sense of relief hit him so hard it almost hurt. He had not realized that he had thought he would never see her again.

He could see the deep emotions in her green eyes, but he doubted that anyone else could. If it was Izzy, Alec, or even Simon that looked at her now they would only see the careful nonchalant mask she was hiding her fear and pain behind. But he could see through her, and not only because he knew her better than he knew himself. He could see through the mask because he had put on that face many times before and she had always been able to see through it when he did.

With all his might he wished he could reassure her, hold her and tell her that everything would be okay or at least just say her name. But he knew that he would just have to do his best. Unfortunately all he had was eye contact. So he winked.

He winked and put on his famously trademark smirk. Jonathan was gone so he didn't have to worry about him seeing but he knew that anywhere in the room there could be some sort of listening device or rune and he wouldn't know about it. So he kept quiet but he let the smirk relax into a genuine smile and watched his magic work. When Clary caught site of his wink her shoulders relaxed ever so slightly. He watched as his wink brought a small and fleeting, yet still beautiful, smile to her face.

Now that he was thinking clearly, Jace understood that this could be the only time that they would have to plan their escape, and since Jonathan was due back any moment they only had a few minutes. Also they would probably have to avoid talking because that would draw his attention. And the attention of any demons he might have lurking around. Jace took another breath and looked quickly at Clary.

As he watched she gestured to the other side of the room. Up against the wall was her steel. The steel that had gently marked his skin more times than he could count. Just looking at that steel brought a collage of memories into his mind. Memories of his and Clary's many successful demon hunts; they always worked better together.

He wondered how it got there and decided he would have to ask when this was over(he refused to believe that they wouldn't come out of this alive) and instead threw her a quick smile so that she would know that he had seen it.

Just then Jonathan came back down the stairs, a knife in hand.


	10. Chapter 10

Magnus sighed…again. He was getting rather irritated with the impatient young shadowhunters pacing his apartment. Cue…5…3….1.

Alec looked over at Magnus and asked for the 32nd time, "How much longer will it take."

Izzy loved her brother but she was too stressed and her patience was gone. She snapped. She turned around, about ready to slap Alec or pull out her beautiful whip when Magnus suddenly stated in an excited tone what they had been waiting forever for.

"It worked! I'm a genius; you're just lucky you have me."

"Could you explain this wonderful idea to US now?" Alec was now at his wits end, just like Isabelle, almost ready to strangle the information out of the sparkly warlock. He had been running around his apartment looking through books and pulling out strange bottles of liquid. They, not being up to date with the goings on of magic, had not had any idea what he was doing.

Now they watched as he hastily fingered through a white spell book that looked strangely familiar. It was written in what Alec could only guess was Latin or Greek. Magnus grinned when he found the correct page and began reading the passage he had been searching for.

"'When all is said and done the summoning and dismissing is all the same. To summon a demon the first rule is to protect yourself, by using a pentagram. To send a stubborn demon back to its own dimension permanently you must use the same technique in reverse. You must incapacitate the demon then draw the pentagram around it. Then make your way around it clockwise while chanting the words of banishing. Throw the water of the black shadows atop the demon then burn them. They will be gone from this world forever.'"

The lightwoods sat there for a whole uninterrupted minute then they both started yelling at once.

"WE HAVE TO HURRY UP! ANY SECOND NOW THEY COULD DIE! OR WORSE!"

"HURRY AND GET YOUR THINGS MAGNUS WE HAVE TO GET THERE FAST!!!"

With an airy wave of his left hand he silenced the shadowhunters immediately, magic overcoming there rather large mouths. He didn't feel too guilty about it. He would remove it once he had gathered his things so that they could dispatch of Sebastian/Jonathan once and for all.

* * *

Jonathan grinned and Clary and Jace's stomachs flipped in fearful summersaults. Not for themselves, but for each other. Jonathan could see this and his smirk only got wider.

Jonathan walked over to where Clary was still stuck in the chair, and flipped the knife around in his hand so that it was facing her. The wicked smile on his face grew when she just looked at him.

"That calm expression won't be on your face for long; very soon you will be begging me to stop, screaming in unbelievable pain." Thinking of her pain seemed to only make him happier, but Jace knew that he was actually joyful at the idea of the pain that he would cause Jace. The pain it would cause him to see Clary being hurt; he was happy about Jace's fear about what would happen to Clary.

Clary looked up at Jonathan. She knew what he was going to do, but she felt braver with Jace there. Even if Jace couldn't do anything about this, just his closeness was enough to stifle her fear. Mostly.


	11. Chapter 11

The pain was astonishing. The only time he had felt pain like this was when he had been stabbed in the chest by the demon standing in front of him. But anything was better than Clary being hurt. He would gladly take all this pain for her.

He let his eyes open, glancing in her direction. Her face was set in lines of anguish, as though this was the worst thing she could imagine; this was torture for her too.

And Jonathan enjoyed it. He enjoyed the control he had over them. He knew that they had given up hope of saving themselves and were only trying to be strong for each other.

He took the knife and once more dragged it in a jagged line down Jace's chest, causing Clary to cry out, with a horrible despaired sob of resignation.

Jonathan took advantage of her pain.

"I can end this," he whispered graciously, like he was offering her a gift. His tone was causing Jace to shake with rage again.

"I can offer you an escape, a way out of all this pain….a quick death. It will all be over; you'll be gone so fast you won't even feel it. It will be such a relief, don't you think? You won't have to watch Jace be hurt anymore; you'll be gone, numb to the world. And my quarrel with Jace will be over, I'll let him go."

Jace could see through this outright lie, but Clary was desperate. She wanted out; she knew she had to be brave though, so she didn't answer. If she was going to die tonight it would be with dignity and grace, she would die a warrior's death; she would die a shadowhunter's death. The thought brought forth another sob, butt before it had a chance to escape her cracked, busted, swollen lips………

-CRASH-

All of a sudden Jace and Clary could hear a loud ruckus that included exclamations of, "MY HAIR," and "STAB THE DAMN THING," coming from upstairs.

Hope flared through them both like a fire through a forest. It was the best either had ever felt about finding out that Magnus, Izzy, and Alec had shown up.

Jonathan was momentarily distracted by the cacophony. Jace used this moment to make his escape, and leaned forward just enough to slice a bit of the rope that was holding him in place while he was tortured, on the knife that Jonathan was holding. He burst out of the rest quickly and grabbed the nearest weapon to his hand. He lashed out quickly at Jonathan, only missing because of Jonathan's quick demon reflexes.

And so they began to fight. Clary was still tied up and the others were handling the demons and Valentine supporters who had been upstairs. Their fight was more like a dance really. One step forward, step back, then the right, then the left. Both were trying to no avail at first to get in any hits, or slashes.

Jace was suddenly knocked backwards; Jonathan was sitting on his chest just as he had two years ago. This time he did not hesitate. He slashed his blade across Jace's chest.

"I'm going to snap her neck, just like your stupid bird."


	12. Chapter 12

Clary sat there reliving the past. It was just the same, the only difference was the _person_ who was hurting Jace, while she was stuck not moving. It was his brother now instead of his father, but she was still just as helpless to save him. He was going to die and now there was no angel to bring him back.

She screamed his name and he looked to her before he lost consciousness. The cut across his chest wasn't deep enough to be immediately fatal but in only a matter of minutes he would lose too much blood for a stele to help him.

Jonathan was trying to fight Izzy, Alec and Magnus now and Clary knew he wouldn't win; he was already weak from his fight with Jace. It was only a matter of time before he was gone forever.

But then Jace could be gone as well. The pain she felt was unreal and thus she couldn't put it to words, even in her own mind.

Then a jet of Magic was flying across the room, and severed the ropes that had been holding her. It must have been Magnus.

She scrambled across the floor to the stele and quickly came to Jace's side. The wound on his chest couldn't be fixed with any ordinary healing rune.

"I love you," her voice was quiet but she hoped that he heard it, even in his unconscious state.

She leaned very close to him and began to draw. Like when she was on Valentines ship she poured all her emotions into this ruin. Everything inside of her seemed to pour out through the burning lines she was marking his chest with. And with her emotions she felt her energy draining as well.

She finally finished the ruin. The ruin could save his life, or kill her and him with its intensity.

She lay down next to him. _At least this time we can be together._

And the last thing she could remember was hearing a chant in a strange language and the distinct smell of something burning.


	13. Chapter 13

When she woke she saw angels. An intense sensation of déjà vu was dancing through her conscious. She had just remembered that this was exactly how she had woken the first time she entered the Institute when she heard a gasp. She would know that voice anywhere, whether it was speaking or grumbling or sounded sarcastic and snarky (which it usually was). Jace.

She turned in the direction of the noise and felt a strong, sharp shock of pain and let out the kind of cry a small child might make. She was instantly surrounded by voices, the voice she had heard earlier among others. They were speaking so fast that she didn't bother with trying to eavesdrop like she usually would have, but she caught snippets of their conversation.

"Another run... maybe."

"Mundane Meds might work, right?"

"WHY ISN'T SHE AWAKE?"

The last yell was obviously coming from Jace so she decided to reassure his irritating worry by letting out a word or two but only one thing would come to mind.

"Shut up," was all she could manage to murmur. It had the intended effect and everything went quiet.

Time

More time

Even more time

She was awakened by a feeling this time and not the sound of her annoying (at the moment) friends.

The feeling of something warming her side considerably broke through the thick fuzz in her brain. She knew it was Jace so she didn't look. She was loathe to feel the intense pain again. She could tell he was asleep from the pattern of his breathes. She snuggled closer into his side deciding it was worth any pain it might bring and smiled when she only felt a slight twinge all over her body. He let out a whisper of air like he hadn't been totally relaxed until she had gotten closer.

A small smile came to her lips as she realized that they had survived. They had lived through that damned bastards torture and were still going strong. Maybe not as strong as usual but they would get there.

Her happiness faded as she realized she really had no idea whether their problems were over or not and she shuddered at the thought that her brother might still be out there. Lurking, looming, just waiting to take her and Jace's lives away.

She needed answers so she slowly started to slip her feet out of the small bed in the infirmary.


	14. Chapter 14

Clary couldn't help the small yelp that escaped her lips as she felt someones arms wrap around her midsection, pulling her back onto the bed. The arms were familiar though; she would know those arms anywhere. Just as she was turning around to kiss Jace, Isabelle, Alec and Magnus burst into the room rather loudly.

"You're awake," Magnus said with no inflection as though he wasn't at all surprised. Izzy however was a different matter completely.

"Finally! We all thought you had died! Jace was so freaked that he wouldn't even tell us what happened, even after we knew you were okay!" With her last statement she sent a very pointed glance at the object of her annoyance.

"I didn't tell you because I don't know what happened. One second I was on the ground, blacked out and the next I was waking up to find Clary unconscious beside me!"

Clary could feel an argument coming on so she decided to distill the tension and tell everyone about the rune she used.

By the time she was finished explaining her side of the story (skipping a few of the more gory parts to keep Jace from getting too upset) she was curious as to what had happened to Jonathan. How had they gotten rid of her demon of a brother?

Jace however had other ideas for the direction of their conversation.

"That rune could have killed you! Remember what happened on Valentine's love boat! How did you know that you would be okay?" Jace was practically twitching with anger at her rash planning.

"I was ninety percent sure that I would be completely fine and that I could save you." She realized that this probably wouldn't be good enough for Jace but she thought it had to count for something.

He was about to reply, with something unpleasant if his expression was any indication, when he suddenly grinned. Then he reached over and poked her with one long thin finger, really hard right in the spleen. It hurt.

"What was that for?" She knew he was upset but that was pretty immature, even for Jace.

"The other ten percent," he said with a wicked grin, quoting her.

Eventually the group of five had all told each other everything. Clary found out that Jonathan had been sent to whatever hellish dimension the greater demon that his blood came from inhabited, and Jace found out that he had survived in the first place because his blade was off by a millimeter when he stabbed his "brother". They got a deep satisfaction out of finally knowing what the hell was going on.

When they were finally done talking Clary decided she wanted some alone time with Jace. When she offered to take a walk around the park with him he agreed quickly, obviously wanting to do something relatively normal.

They sat on a bench in the middle of the huge park silently. They said nothing and instead just kept their arms around each other. Offering silent comfort for the pain that they had suffered.

Clary remained deep in thought as she looked out at the other people lounging about.

A family walking along talking, with a girl of about ten, with light brown curls, following.

Her older brother and sister shoving each other when they knew that their parents weren't looking.

It suddenly struck Clary how ignorant they were. How _blissfully_ ignorant they were of the world around them. The demons, downworlders, and shadowhunters.

For a moment she wished that she could go back to a time when she didn't know about this world. But then she looked over to Jace and knew that she wouldn't do anything differently no matter what, because he was worth it. Always.

So they sat on that bench until the moon was high above their heads and the tragedy was far behind them.


	15. Disclaimer AU Its Over

Dear awesome, fabulous, cool, beautiful, inspiring, amazing, helpful, wonderful readers THANK YOU! I loved writing this and I hope that you all loved it! Sorry about taking so long to update, but I was having extreme technical difficulty's. I'm sure most of you can relate. Thanks for sticking with my story to the end, and for all of the fab reviews. They always made me want to keep writing!

Also I have to put in a major disclaimer here because I didn't do it for any of the chapters!

**_Ultimate Disclaimer(for all of the chapters of Bait)_: I own none of the Mortal Instruments characters, settings, runes, or anything that you read in the books! It all belongs to Cassandra Clare!**

**_Copyright_: Although I don't own the Mortal Instruments, I do own my original ideas and I would greatly appreciate it if no one used them. Thanks.**

A special thanks to lone-star1234 for being a great friend and ACTUALLY BOTHERING TO READ MY FIC, WHICH IS MORE THAN I CAN SAY FOR YOU HAELEA!

For everyone who reviewed thanks a million and have a great summer!

P.S.- Jace'n'FangLover thanks for being my "no.1 fan" and reviewing so often. You really encouraged me to keep going and I was always happy to see a review from you!

I have officially overused the ! key on Toby so goodbye for now.


	16. Recs

Hey just thought I'd ask my Bait readers to go check out my oneshot! "Maybe When Your Older" . Its my second work of fan fiction and I wanted to share it with you guys!

Also I have some great recommendations!

If you haven't already read the story _**Turbulence**_ by **ddpjclaf** then you are missing out on a masterpiece! This story is incredible and emotional and completed (thank God) !

Check out any of the stories by **ddpjclaf **I love them all!

Also a story I've been reading lately that I absolutely love is _**Of Promises and Blood **_by **KisstheRain14 **(another fave author of mine). The story is unique and interesting! Full of fluff and excitement!


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